Obama's speech today was an election game-changer

[scheming daemons]

Text of the speech here:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/full_text_of_obamas_iraq_speec.php



This speech should be required viewing/reading by all Americans. Nobody in the past 6 years has put it all together so succinctly, so perfectly, so plainly.

The money quote, according to me (There were many worthy candidates, but this is the best one):

"I am running for President of the United States to lead this country in a new direction - to seize this moment's promise. Instead of being distracted from the most pressing threats that we face, I want to overcome them. Instead of pushing the entire burden of our foreign policy on to the brave men and women of our military, I want to use all elements of American power to keep us safe, and prosperous, and free. Instead of alienating ourselves from the world, I want America - once again - to lead."

I every American voter were to hear/read this speech, Obama would be up by 15 to 20 points in the polls immediately.

[Johonny]

1. The MSM is now doing it's best to water down the message

Their pundits can't (and apparently don't want to) grasp what he's talking about.

[Cha]

7. They are our enemy and

the sooner they are known for what they are the sooner America wins.

[sandnsea]

2. Kerry gave it in 2004

Didn't do him any good. If we keep letting ourselves get distracted, we could easily end up with McCain as President. I don't know why so many people can't get it through their heads.

[scheming daemons]

4. Kerry never came close to this big of a clean break on Iraq..... to his detriment

[arikara]

12. Kerry "reported for duty" on Iraq

and turned off the progressives. His acceptance speech was the beginning of the end for him. Yes the election was stolen but had he not pandered to the rightists on this he would have had so many votes he would not have been able to "lose" through fraud. IMHO.

[MarjorieG]

13. The public wasn't ready, and no good choices at the time.

[sandnsea]

15. lol. He called for withdrawal in summer 2005

Too bad too many people had their heads so far up their anti-war asses that they couldn't hear him.

[politicasista]

16. LOL!

:thumbsup:

[politicasista]

6. True n/t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. I thought it was a great speech (from what I've heard so far-I want to listen to the entire speech)

It is puzzling however that now the MSM (yeah, I know) is reporting that Americans are nearly evenly divided on whether or not to have a timetable for withdrawal with those favoring a timetable with only a bare 1-2% edge on those not favoring a timetable.

:wtf:

I wonder WTF those people who do not favor a timetable are thinking and what their reasoning is for not supporting some kind of timetable, particularly after being there for 5 years and after having done seemingly everything that needs to be done in order to help get Iraq into some kind of semi-functional state?

:shrug:

In regards to Obama's speech, I LOVE the fact that he pointed out how McCain's plan seems to be for staying in Iraq indefinitely and that Bush, McCain, et. al want to stay no matter how high or low the violence in Iraq seems to be.
:yourock:

I just hope and pray that he doesn't get "brainwashed" by the Neocons and High Lord Patreaus during his upcoming trip to Iraq. Of course, I will understand if he needs to tweak his plans around the edges when he becomes President and reconsider his 16-month timetable (which IMHO is more or a guideline rather than a firm commitment at this point) if it is simply not feasible for some legitimate reason. The main point that I think is important to make about his strategy is that he, unlike, McCain, has no interest in maintaining an indefinite presence in Iraq and that he sees (correctly) the larger picture in regards to national security. The main thing that I think needs to be pointed out over and over again is that if Bush's "surge" has been as wildly successful as he, McCain et. al claim it has been then that should STRENGTHEN the case for a withdrawal timetable not weaken it, ESPECIALLY since the Iraqis are now actually asking us for a timetable. So, is McCain standing by the success of Bush's "surge" or is he saying more or less that it actually hasn't been that successful?

[NattPang]

23. According to FAIR, that poll was skewed to be favorable to McCain.

I posted about this here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=32394&mesg_id=32394

FAIR is asking that we take action, and write.
They provide contact information.
We should use FAIR more.
They are good and are ready to fight the media.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

28. I figured as much

I just couldn't believe that that many people are really willing to let our OCCUPATION in Iraq go on indefinitely without ANY kind of timetable given how disgusted most people seem to be about it. I don't believe that most people even supported Bush's "surge" and anybody who genuinely thinks that it was a smashing "success" really shouldn't have a problem with us setting some kind of reasonable timetable for the withdrawal of most of our troops from Iraq. We really need to develop a serious alternative to the MSM that can cut out all of the BS propaganda and get back to reporting FACTS not ideologies.

P.S. Thanks for the link!

[grantcart]

5. it was the kind of speech that was both reassuring and full of common sense

If you had the American public read it and poll them on whether they agree with it or not you would get 90% in favor of it.

[ginnyinWI]

8. I watched with my 25 year old daughter

Her take on it was not so positive. She will still vote for him, but now she feels that when he is President we'll stay at war--in Afghanistan, and she doesn't like it. I told her that there will be a big difference, and that difference will be the addition of diplomacy and coalition-building to the mix, rather than the cowboy-go-it-alone thing that the current administration is doing. It's mindless militarism v.s. smart strategy for national security. She said, "hmmm". This tells me that some on the left will be less than thrilled with this speech.

[Johonny]

10. I see her point of view

I don't see Afghanistan is a much more winnable war than Iraq was. Also the opportunity to gain and maintain stability in Afghanistan appears to be wanning. Obama may not be able to roll back the clock on that war.

[ginnyinWI]

19. Barack was interviewed on Newshour tonight with Gwen Ifil.

She asked the same question my daughter would have asked--are we in for continuous war? His answer was no, the Afghanistan war is not the same as Iraq, where we have about 140k troops. He would have 30k in Afghanistan, and would be getting help from Nato and other nations. I agree that this is a necessary action, because Al Qaeda must be stopped.

[ginnyinWI]

29. Link to Newshour interview now up:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec08/obama_07-15.html

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

18. We don't have a choice in Afghanistan. That shit needs to be cleaned up once and for all.

The taliban/osama must be be eradicated. It sounds like chest-thumping militarism I know, but that's my opinion.

[Baclava]

21. Sounds like Obama is ready to kick some major Taliban ass

"The greatest threat to that security lies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, where terrorists train and insurgents strike into Afghanistan. We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as President, I won’t. We need a stronger and sustained partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO to secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents. We need more troops, more helicopters, more satellites, more Predator drones in the Afghan border region. And we must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights."

[Fleshdancer]

9. Great speech. I hope to hear more about the residual forces that he referred to...

From one of my favorite paragraphs:

To achieve that success, I will give our military a new mission on my first day in office: ending this war. Let me be clear: we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 - one year after Iraqi Security Forces will be prepared to stand up; two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, we'll keep a residual force to perform specific missions in Iraq: targeting any remnants of al Qaeda; protecting our service members and diplomats; and training and supporting Iraq's Security Forces, so long as the Iraqis make political progress.

I don't expect the plans for this residual force to be completed until he's in office, but I would love to be a fly on the wall when he discusses this issue with the Generals and commanders in Iraq. From what I understand, Obama doesn't want permanent bases over there (thankfully) so this makes me wonder how many troops will be involved in this and for what length of time. I personally wouldn't mind seeing this evolve into more of a UN peace keeping type of thing.

[anonymous171]

11. Should've waited until this NY cover thing blew over.

[Mira]

14. This will help speed up it's demise

[scheming daemons]

17. It's already nearly over... sub-11000 Dow will kind of do that....

[RNdaSilva]

20. Keep 'em coming.

[NYC_SKP]

22. These words need to be repeated, and repeated....

Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and months, and years after 9/11.

We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in Afghanistan.

We could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century non-proliferation framework to meet the challenges of the 21st.

We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative sources of energy to grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil.

We could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity.

We could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and police officers.

We could have secured our homeland—investing in sophisticated new protection for our ports, our trains and our power plants.

We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband and electricity systems, and made college affordable for every American to strengthen our ability to compete.

We could have done that.

Instead, we have lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats – all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

:toast:

[newmajority]

25. Imagine what we could have done if the Supreme Court hadn't installed Chimpy

9/11 would have never happened, we wouldn't be in Iraq, and even though gas would still be about $1.25/gallon, we'd still have made some progress moving forward with energy practices.

We could have done all that you just mentioned AND implemented single payer health care, and would still have spent less money than the Bush Crime Family has in Iraq. :evilfrown:

[Undercurrent]

24. It was a great speech!

My favorite sound bite/bumper sticker line was, "George Bush and John McCain don't have a strategy for success in Iraq - they have a strategy for staying in Iraq."

[liberalla]

26. kick!

[bcoylepa]

27. except my local paper

didn't even cover it today!

[bullwinkle428]

30. Thom Hartmann played a great clip on his show today -

it was from the 1952 campaign of Dwight Eisenhower. The speaker emphasized how Eisenhower already had experience in actually interacting with the world's leaders, and was more than familiar with the diplomatic process. The tagline at the end of the clip was Eisenhower, the candidate for peace!!